


Sleeping Beauty

by This-is-my-otp (Zetalial)



Series: Tumblr Elricest ficlets. [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 07:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20502803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zetalial/pseuds/This-is-my-otp
Summary: Edward sleeps but Alphonse dreams.A little fairytale AU that diverges from episode 51. Light Elricest.





	Sleeping Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this little story to my tumblr and decided to share it here as well.

Deep beneath Central City, Edward Elric stands in the centre of a beautifully drawn array. He is thinking of his brother, of the day they pricked their fingers, shedding their blood, and he lost him. This time, when he brings him back, Ed vows it will be done perfectly.

In a dead, underground City, Edward performs a transmutation.

He does not see the fruit of his labours. Far above him, the bustling city sudden silences.

It is a curse, the people whisper, those few on the edges of the great city who narrowly escape the same fate. For all the people had suddenly collapsed, falling into a deep sleep. It must be some accursed form of alchemy, the devil’s science, others say.

Some fools try to enter and they too are caught in the unnatural spell. Though they continue to breathe on, nothing seems to awaken them – not that any dare to venture close enough to try. The people do not know what to do. They learn to stay away, abandoning the city.

Far away, in the quiet village of Risembool, Alphonse wakes up, fully restored to his human body. And yet, he is a child again. He is ten years old and has no memory of the last five years. He wonders where his brother has gone.

News of the sleeping city is slow to reach him but he is told much of what has happened in the last five years. Al is thankful to be alive but finds he cannot rest while his dearest brother’s fate is so uncertain. At night, he dreams of his brother, of a city of ghosts keeping him imprisoned in a cell he built for himself.

There is one who escapes the city. He is not human and he cannot sleep. Not even the curse is enough to give him rest. Wrath is a boy lacking a soul, and an arm and a leg besides. The people shy away from him too.

He has no place to go for Izumi was also claimed by the Curse and the other homunculi are all dead. Instead he travels to Risembool and meets Alphonse once more – yet Al does not remember him.

With their history forgotten, Wrath decides not to antagonise the forlorn Alchemist. Al misses his brother a great deal and has no interest in fighting. Instead, Wrath describes the underground city where he last saw Edward.

Wrath’s words fill him with a sense of purpose and Alphonse decides he must travel to Central City and what lies beneath, heedless of the curse for now he knows it must be Edward’s doing.

No trains will travel near the sleeping City and so Alphonse makes much of the journey by foot. It feels like a grand adventure and he fancies that perhaps he had travelled some of these same roads with his brother, once upon a time.

Soon, he reaches the edges of the City, past barriers and warnings to stay away and soon he lays eyes on sleeping people, lost to the world. Feeling that strange sense of purpose, he continues on, into the curse’s range.

And yet, he doesn’t fall asleep. It doesn’t affect him. And he know that this must certainly be his brother’s work.

Remembering Wrath’s words, he continues, making his way to the church. The plants have grown wild and Alphonse imagines them slowly swallowing the great City. He passes the sleeping figures of people he’d once known yet recognises them not.

He makes his way down, descending into a dead ruin of a city beneath the sleeping one. He marvels at it, like he’d done the first time, and continues to the theatre at its very heart.

There, in the middle of a massive transmutation circle that is still faintly glowing, Edward lies.

For an instant, Alphonse fears - but then he notices the steady rise and fall of his chest and he realises that Edward too, is only sleeping.

He hurries over to him, stepping into the circle without hesitation, anxious to hold his brother once more. How much he has changed since he was eleven!

“Brother, wake up,” Al says, pulling Edward’s head into his lap, gently shaking him.

It is so strange to think he has been lying here for so long and yet still feels warm and so full of life - if he were to only open his eyes.

Alphonse shakes him harder and carefully drags him away from the transmutation circle. Yet, for all his efforts, Edward’s unnatural sleep is not disturbed.

“Brother - Edward - please!” Al finds himself begging, wishing with all his might that he knew how to undo the curse. He hardly notices his eyes begin to water and tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Please wake up!”

Al leans down and lays a loving kiss on his sleeping brother. “I miss you,” he breathes softly as his tears land on his brother’s face.

Finally, Edward’s eyes flicker and he slowly becomes aware of being held in a soft embrace.

“-Al?” he mumbles, hardly daring to hope.

Al freezes and stares into Ed’s drowsy yellow eyes. Was this real? Suddenly, memories begin to wash over him and he begins to remember everything he’s forgotten.

“Brother! You’re okay. And you’re alive. And I remember!”

Ed laughs, confused but radiant and hugs Al back, gripping him tightly with both arms, not daring to let go.

Above them, a city awakens after a long slumber.


End file.
